ICON’s Vehicles Are Both Vintage and Modern

Jonathan Ward is obsessive, haunted by the many ideas in his head. The 48-year-old automotive artist has an insatiable curiosity that keeps him up at night and causes him to seek inspiration from far-flung pockets of life. When he comes across something he likes—an antique watch, an Eames chair, or a pair of Nikes—Ward works aspects of it into ICON, his aftermarket car company based in Chatsworth, Calif., 20 miles northwest of Hollywood.

Founded in 2007, ICON reimagines vintage cars and trucks, fitting them with new powertrains, mechanicals, materials, and finishes. It’s a romantic approach to automotive craft, thoughtfully marrying the best parts of the past and present to produce vehicles loyal to their original aesthetic, yet enhanced with new-age engineering, defined by Ward’s distinct touches.

When he launched ICON, Ward started with something he knew well: the legendary FJ40 Land Cruiser. He and his team created an artistically bold, meticulously built rig worthy of its six-figure price, and ICON has had a waiting list ever since.

In 1996, Ward and his wife, Jamie, started TLC, an automotive shop focused solely on the servicing and restoration of Toyota Land Cruisers, a favorite for off-roading and overlanding. Ward loves returning Land Cruisers to their factory-perfect glory, but TLC didn’t allow him the creative freedom he desired, so about a decade later he started ICON. “The idea was to kind of evolve the way classic vehicles were—up until that point—traditionally done,” he says.

The company soon started turning out Ford Broncos, then Chevrolet 3100–based “Thriftmaster” pickups, and then one-offs called “Derelicts” and “Reformers” with the bones and skins of whatever Ward found on the internet: a Kaiser Jeep, a DeSoto wagon, or a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. “We stay true to the era, but enhance and evolve all the tactile experiences,” Ward explains. Every ICON is defined by his subtle touches.

He’s mindful of cost but not constrained by it, concerned more about the quality, longevity, and serviceability of his builds. A “standard” ICON starts around $200,000, climbing with every choice option, and the list of options is seemingly infinite; an exhaustive, ground-up build can cost over $1 million.

“
The idea was to kind of evolve the way classic vehicles were traditionally done.
”

—Jonathan Ward

Forty percent of ICON’s business comes from returning clients. Ward says his patrons tell him, “Just build it like you’ll keep it, and if you’re unsure of something, bounce it by me. Otherwise, I trust you and your decisions....that’s why I’m coming back.”

Brett Hershey and Parker Blanchard are ICON owners who both bought FJs, then went back to Ward for a second vehicle. Hershey is currently waiting for his Reformer, a 1970 Chevy Suburban. Blanchard, a real estate investor who now owns two FJs, says, “ICON continues to excel in a category that is typically poorly executed upon. Guys like us want timeless design and looks, but have tremendous trust in the performance and capability of the vehicles that ICON builds.”

John Wiley, market analyst at Hagerty, an automotive lifestyle company that sells collector-car insurance and publishes the Hagerty Price Guide, likens ICON to storied manufacturers that long dominated the automotive aftermarket—Alpina, Pininfarina, Touring, Yenko, Zagato.

“Much like the quality of a restoration that still shows well after 25 years, the quality of the customizations will have an outsize impact on the value of the car over the long term,” Wiley says. “These may go through a period where they are out of fashion, but if the quality is high, values will likely increase over time.”

ICON’s FJ40 is in its third generation, and the Bronco and Thriftmaster can now be had as “old school” models that are “far more retro and under the radar,” Ward says.

He’s working on a new model line, one with a vastly different heritage than a Bronco. “It’ll be a daily driver with enhanced capability, rooted in a traditional model that is loved globally but underserved in the restoration world.”

The man at the wheel of the big machine remains an obsessive perfectionist, but he now has the confidence to be bolder and go bigger. “I don’t know any better,” Ward says, “so it’s either the stupidity or audacity to just go for it, and fortunately, or unfortunately, my visceral want to create has turned into this.”

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